Microsoft is testing a new search box on the taskbar on the Windows 11 Insider preview build 25252. However, this new feature is not available on all devices by default. You can use the method mentioned in this MiniTool post to enable the new taskbar search box on Windows 11.
Windows 11 Has a New Search Box on the Taskbar
Windows 11 Insider preview build 25252 was rolled out to the Insiders in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Program. In this build, Microsoft introduces a new feature: a new search box on the taskbar.
Unlike the previous search feature, the new search box allows you to input your request in the search field on the taskbar. The search result will show up in the Windows Search user interface (UI) as before.
How to Enable or Disable the New Search Box on the Taskbar on Windows 11?
How to Enable the New Taskbar Search Box on Windows 11?
Here is how to enable the new search box on the taskbar on Windows 11 using ViVeTool:
Step 1: Download ViVeTool from github.com.
Step 2: The downloaded ViVeTool is a compressed folder. After downloading, you need to unzip the folder and move that folder to C drive.
Step 3: Copy the path of that folder.
Step 4: Run Command Prompt as administrator.
Step 5: Run cd C:\ViVeTool-v0.3.2 in Command Prompt. In this step, you need to replace C:\ViVeTool-v0.3.2 with the path of ViveTool you have copied.
Step 6: Run this command: vivetool /enable /id:40887771. When you will see the following prompt, it means the command runs successfully:
ViVeTool v0.3.2 – Windows feature configuration tool
Successfully set feature configuration(s)
Step 6: Restart your PC.
How to show the new search box on the taskbar?
After these steps, the new search box on the taskbar feature is enabled. To make the taskbar show the new search box, you still need to modify a setting for the taskbar.
Step 1: Right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.
Step 2: Under Taskbar items, you need to expand the menu next to Search and select Search box.
Now, the new search box will appear on the taskbar. Then, you can directly type into the search box on the taskbar to search for files, folders, settings, and websites you want to use.
How to Disable the New Taskbar Search Box on Windows 11?
If you want to disable the desktop search bar on Windows 11, you can use these steps:
Step 1: Run Command Prompt as administrator.
Step 2: Run cd [the path of the ViVeTool] in Command Prompt. I run cd C:\ViVeTool-v0.3.2 on your computer.
Step 3: Run this command: vivetool /disable /id: 40887771 in Command Prompt.
Step 4: When the prompt shows that the command runs successfully, you still need to restart your PC to apply the change.
Recover Your Missing Files on Windows 11
You can use Windows search to find the files and folders you can’t easily find on your computer. But if you can’t find them using search, they should be lost or deleted by mistake. To recover your data, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
This MiniTool data recovery software is specially designed to recover all kinds of files from different types of data storage devices. With the free edition of this software, you can recover up to 1 GB of files for free.
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Bottom Line
How to enable the new search box on the taskbar on Windows 11? This post shows you a full guide. Should you have other issues that need to be fixed, you can let us know in the comments.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Stella has been working in MiniTool Software as an English Editor for more than 8 years. Her articles mainly cover the fields of data recovery including storage media data recovery, phone data recovery, and photo recovery, videos download, partition management, and video & audio format conversions.